467) which is at once a description of one of the funeral hymns oL the Rig Veda (X.18) with the later ritual, and a criticism of the bearing of the latter on the former.[34] He shows here that the ritual, so far from having induced the hymn, totally changes it.

The hymn was written for a burial ceremony.

The later ritual knows only cremation.

The ritual, therefore, forces the hymn into its service, and makes it a cremation-hymn.

This is a very good (though very extreme) example of the difference in age between the early hymns of the Rig Veda and the more modern ritual.